Growing-Up With the Doctor, Part 1: The Seventies

One abiding childhood memory I have

is of corned-beef butties and Horlicks.

This was my bedtime treat on Hazel

Ward. I had several ENT operations at

St. Helens Hospital, where one

physician in particular aided my

recovery, the Doctor.

Now demolished, the children's ward

was famous locally for it's rocking

horse, but for me its biggest draw was

the book trolley.

Amongst the battered kids classics and

old annuals, were the well-thumbed

paperback versions of fabled Doctor

Who stories.

The first Target books I read were Day

of the Daleks and The Cave Monsters.

I also discovered a copy of the wond-

rous first edition of The Making of

Doctor Who, where I first learnt about

 the Doctor's adventures.

As soon as I joined my local library, I sought out their Target collection,

and quickly devoured every title. I even recall finding a hardback copy

 of The Zarbi with Tom Baker on the cover!

My early favourites were such exotic, distant wonders like The

Cybermen, The Abominable Snowmen, The Crusaders and The

Daleks, with it's bizarre alternative premise to the series (set on

Barnes Common, and bypassing the events of that first monu-

mental television story. I'd finally get to watch An Unearthly Child

in 1981).

I bought my first Target novel, The Visitation in 1982, and this marks

the beginning of my obsession with this TV legend. The original library

 of 156 titles was my introduction to the worlds of Doctor Who, and for

me, was one of the most important aspects of growing-up in the 1970's.